Free Into Thin Air by Cindy Miles Page A

has me tuckered."
    Gawan frowned. "You've done little more than heckle me, you old fool. How can you be tuckered?"
    Sir Godfrey ignored the comment. "I've a mind to sit down to a game of chess with a worthy opponent, quite right. Come, Arrick-by-the-Sea! I'll even give you splendid odds."
    Christian shrugged and disappeared with Godfrey.
    Just then, the spitting rain grew heavy. Gawan pulled the books close to his chest to keep them dry and inclined his head. "Let's put these in the Rover, then visit the other establishments. If Mrs.
    MacGillery had words with you, mayhap others will have, as well."
    Ellie and he went in and out of at least four other stores, yet no one could give any more information than what Mrs. MacGillery had given. Soaked, Ellie and Gawan hurried to the Rover.
    "It looks like we're finished here, for now, anyway." Thunder cracked overhead. "We can get back to Grimm, dry off, then go through the book to see if anything jars your memory."
    Ellie nodded and ducked her head as the rain picked up. "Sounds good to me."
    Minutes later they were headed back up the rocky path leading to Castle Grimm. Ellie stared out the window at the blustery wintry scene. The crags and cliffs of Northern England were stunning, the North Sea a turbulent churning of gray frothy power as it bashed the cliffside. Even through the closed glass, the briny scent of the sea permeated the Rover and her senses. It smelled familiar, somehow. Brave seagulls swept over the water and then disappeared beneath the rocky overhangs.
    The grass along the cliffs had yellowed and swayed with each gust of icy wind. An old stone wall crept across the meadow, then suddenly vanished. Ellie guessed the original builders of Castle Grimm had carefully laid each stone, hundreds of years before. Once she was home, she'd have to research the area.
    Research? Home? Good Lord, would things ever be normal again?
    "Is there aught amiss?" Gawan said.
    Ellie shrugged. "Other than being mostly dead? Nah. Everything's fabuloso." She cocked her head.
    "I don't get you, Gawan Conwyk. You talk like you're from another century, yet you're as real as Mrs. MacGillery. Certainly, if you were anything weird, she'd know it. Right? I mean, she doesn't know you're a gwarche, er, a Guardian, or whatever you are, does she?" She shook her head. "You take all this crazy stuff in like it's second nature to you. Aren't you the least bit freaked out by any of it? By me?"
    The corner of his very sexy mouth tipped upward into a boyish grin. "Aye, well, your state of affairs is passing odd, girl. Of that, there's no doubt." He shrugged and turned off the lane and through the double gates of Castle Grimm. "But I've been doing what I do for far too long to be freaked out, as you say." He glanced at her.
    " 'Tis a certainty, though, that you are by far the most fascinating charge I've ever had. And no, Mrs.
    MacGillery hasn't a clue what I do for a living."
    In that slight glance, the chocolaty smoothness of his eyes gave off a glint. Of what, exactly, Ellie didn't know.
    It gave her a shiver clear to the tips of her toes.
    With a rather sly, inconspicuous look, Ellie studied the strong hands gripping the steering wheel of the Rover. Thick, long fingers, blunt nails, big knuckles. Beneath the cuff of his sweater, at his wrist, was yet another tattooed marking. Good Lord, he was riddled with them. Very sexy, she thought, and the markings looked nothing like any tattoos she'd ever seen. The markings were pitch-black, not faded like some ink. And the designs themselves were strange, almost like ancient symbols.
    She knew that beneath his wool sweater, those tattoos tracked across his chiseled chest, broad shoulders, and even broader back. Sheesh! She'd seen him in the buff, nude, nekkid as a jaybird, all-out commando, for God's sake, and what a blessed sight to behold. And oh, baby, had she gawked.
    Just like that time in the museum—how old had she been, twelve?—when she'd gotten caught